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we say i - sa or ay - ho. usually we use i - sa with left foot forward, and ay - ho with right, but i've been to schools where they do the exact opposite. also some schools put the emphasis on the first or second sound depending on the movement: I - sa vs. i - SA. AY - ho vs. ay - HO... there seems to be a lot of variation...

we say i - sa or ay - ho. usually we use i - sa with left foot forward, and ay - ho with right, but i've been to schools where they do the exact opposite. also some schools put the emphasis on the first or second sound depending on the movement: I - sa vs. i - SA. AY - ho vs. ay - HO... there seems to be a lot of variation...

Yes, many variations. But most of them are just like the old game of telephone, complicated by the transition of Japanese phonemes into the mouths of non-Japanese speakers.

Anthropologists call it the folk process, but in this case, it's also complicated by the higher level of variation in an increasingly post-literate oral culture (I only have to look at the papers written my sophomore college students to see that they have read very little, written indifferently at best, and rarely been called on either through their K-12 years) that has also lost the emphasis on accurate memory and repetition found in pre-literate oral cultures.

Given the documented relationship between Tsubaki Grand Shrine and the Aiki Shrine, and the existence of Yamamoto's liturgy, a useful corrective is at hand, if anyone cares to use it.

Well, we do this almost every class at Utah Aikikai at the end of warm up stretching. We're all in a circle, and the sensei begins, left foot in front first time around. Everyone follows in unison, and after a couple of forward-backs, sensei begins with yay-ho, yay-ho, and everyone else does the same. "Yay" actually sounds somewhere between "yay" "iei" "and "yen." After maybe 10 rows, we do the "shaking the jewel," clasp you hands above your head, bring them to your hara, and shake it like a polaroid picture for a few seconds. Then we switch to the other foot in front, and the same procedure, except insead of yay-ho, yay-ho, it becomes yay-sa, yay-sa. Yay on the forward row, sa on the backward row. I've heard this excercise called something like "tori-fune-undou," the word undou means excercise, so "bird-boat-excercise," unless the first word also means rowing, then "rowing boat excercise."
At Oberlin, when we do this, which is far less frequently, we don't use vocalizations, except for accented breathing. Forward is the in breath, back is the out breath, although I'm sure this varies too.
Well, that was probably too much information.

Yes, many variations. But most of them are just like the old game of telephone, complicated by the transition of Japanese phonemes into the mouths of non-Japanese speakers.
[...]
Given the documented relationship between Tsubaki Grand Shrine and the Aiki Shrine, and the existence of Yamamoto's liturgy, a useful corrective is at hand, if anyone cares to use it.

Hey fred,

we cross posted (crosed posts?). If i'd seen your link i'd have left it at that...

Too busy, but I can't complain. Paul Kang Sensei is coming out from Bond Street to teach at NJIT tomorrow night, the club is up to about 20 students, and last night, for the very first time ever, half the people on the mat were women, which isn't half bad at a school that is 75% male.

But if they want to do torifune, they have to come up to Rockland, then climb the steps down the cliff to the beach. ; )

Of all the dojo I have seen it in, I don't think I have heard it done the same way twice. Personally, for two sounds, I like:Left: Ei - hoRight: Ei - sa
I have no particular reason why.
I also like: Ei - ho on both sides.
But actually - I prefer no chanting - just focus and concentration.